So today we started replacing one of the last of the barn’s walls.  The barn had wood siding when we bought the place in 2002, and we have been slowly replacing them with recycled metal siding.  We have been adding recycled windows for additional light too.  Above is the wall undergoing destruction.

Here is a close up of the rot in the old walls.

Below is a photo of Tom appreciating unforeseen problems that will need to be fixed.

The unforeseen problem is that the board holding up the roof is not being supported by anything just to Tom’s left.  Here is a short video that demonstrates the roof’s laxity.

There were other unexpected repairs, but this was the most serious.  Below is the barn after a portion of the wall is removed.  I got to scrape all the starling poop from the underlying structures.  The chickens enjoy scratching around in this stuff, for some odd reason.

Diddley spent the morning with us, inspecting our work.

Here is what the nest boxes in the chicken pen look like after the wall as removed.

Fortunately it was a nice (but cold) day.  I enjoyed periodically watching the critters as we proceeded through the work.  Moni reminded me why I love Shetland sheep.

Finally we got half of the wall done.  Here it is.

And here it is with the old wall to the right which we will be replacing tomorrow.  We will have new gutters as well.

At this point the light was fading on the sheep.

I noticed the snow on the hills around us as well as the starlings in the large cottonwood tree.

Then the starlings started coming in swarms.

One of many reasons we are replacing this wall is to eliminate the gap at the top of the old walls which allows the starlings into the barn.

The starlings were initially confused, bashing into the new walls.

Gradually they found the gaps above the old wall.

But tomorrow, hopefully, those walls will also be replaced, and the starlings excluded from our barn.